ZEOvit/200G Build Journal - 34G Solana

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I see what you mean about the corals looking great, at least there's that.

If you do it, your water will turn yellow for the first half hour or so, it will be so bad you'll immediately question "WHAT HAVE I DONE" - persevere through that, it's normal and it WILL clear up in an hour or so (you should also take out your carbon for a day or so and then put in new carbon afterwards, and probably replace that carbon after a few days). Your skimmer WILL go completely nucking futs, you'll have to turn it off for at least a day and when you start up it will have to be adjusted right down. The stuff does skim out quickly though, you can ramp your skimmer back up to normal after a day.

It does drop O2 levels in your tank, so if your skimmer is in sump my suggestion is just take the collection cup off and let the bubbles stay on. At least that should mitigate it.

In ten times of using the stuff, about 2 or maybe 3 times I used it, my ritteri spawned the next day. Whether that's a response to the chemical, a response to the diminished O2, or complete coincidence, I can't say. Just a FWIW.

I don't think it's great to run it, but I have no hesitation about running a treatment if cyano gets bad. It's just a pain because of all the extra things you have to do to clean it up afterwards but a week afterward you should be looking at pristinely white sand and the cyano ought to remain gone.

Thanks for the advice/comments. I think I will give it a shot but for now maybe try the coral snow thing. Couldn't hurt. And if that doesn't work, then I will resort to Red Slimer Remover. The reason being, my skimmer is so sensitive to changes. Its a GREAT skimmer but just so finicky. I think I would prefer to try something from the actual ZEO line for now to fix this mess.

One of the things I am confused about too though is why its mostly growing in the dimmer area? I thought it liked light?

[BlueAbyss]

All of the things that are going on in your tank ie: great polyp extension, your plate taking more food, the gorgonian etc. are hallmarks of a Zeo tank and the low nutrient environment that it produces. Looks good! I'm sure that the cyano will disappear as the nutrient sink in the tank is used up... It will be interesting to see how something like the gorgonian, which seemingly did very well in the high nutrent environment, will fare with less nutrients available in the water column.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

All of the things that are going on in your tank ie: great polyp extension, your plate taking more food, the gorgonian etc. are hallmarks of a Zeo tank and the low nutrient environment that it produces. Looks good! I'm sure that the cyano will disappear as the nutrient sink in the tank is used up... It will be interesting to see how something like the gorgonian, which seemingly did very well in the high nutrent environment, will fare with less nutrients available in the water column.

Yeah I guess really, I am seeing more good than bad. Its certainly been nice to already have nitrates drop to below 5 even though I have been feeding more than I was. My Naso and Yellow tang were getting skinny because I cut back feeding when nitrates started to rise. Now they look good again and nitrates are down. The reason I started ZEO was to be able to feed my overstocked tank lots but still keep nitrates down and corals looking good. I have to say its been a success then based on that. The only downside is the cyano and it is bothering me but should be temporary. Or at least I will make sure its temporary

[BlueAbyss]

Yup, having lots of large fish in a tank almost requires you to do have a system for reducing nitrates. Specially since most fish seems to be soooo hungry all the time But really, this is the worst it can be really... it can only go up from here over the next few months, and I'm thinking it will blow us away either way... even if it is at the expense of a gorgonian or two.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

Yup, having lots of large fish in a tank almost requires you to do have a system for reducing nitrates. Specially since most fish seems to be soooo hungry all the time But really, this is the worst it can be really... it can only go up from here over the next few months, and I'm thinking it will blow us away either way... even if it is at the expense of a gorgonian or two.

Yeah I have to admit I am pretty impressed already with how the sps are looking and I can only imagine how nice they will be once I actually start using other products...this is with ONLY the basics. Not even coral snow yet which I hear really makes the corals happy. If things keep up this way too, these small colonies will be quite large in a relatively short time because I have certainly noticed more growth over the past few weeks. At least very nice new tips and new branches.

Again I don't know how much of it is ZEO and how much would have happened anyways but I am confident that ZEO has helped a lot. Even that horn coral I posted earlier is now green again! It was so dull and beige until starting ZEO.

Hopefully the gorgonians make it. The yellow seem to be loving the ZEO but that purple one, not so much. Although I noticed PE again this morning.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

So as I mentioned before I am setting up the new tank in February. Most of the equipment will be the same but I will take lots of pics of the build this time. Starting with the stand. My brother and I are building it this weekend. Just a regular overbuilt 2x4 frame, plywood and a laminate finish. Hopefully we can find the super gloss white (or maybe black) laminate we are looking for.

The other option is to tile the stand. I have a few ideas in mind for that but we'll see what the cost would be. I found the 1" sq. tiles I like (they are meant for a kitchen backsplash) but they are $23 a square foot...not too cost friendly.

I guess I will modify the thread title a bit


Here are the tank equipment specs:


Tank: Custom 72"x30"x22"
1/2" side panels
3/4" bottom
Center Overflow drilled for herbie overflow and return line
Eurobraced

Sump: 72" 120G (my current display)

Lighting: Dual 400 watt MH with Lumenbright reflectors
Either 14k or 20k...not sure yet. Bulb suggestions are welcome.

Flow: Tunze Wavebox
2 x Modded Koralia 4's (over 2200 GPH each)
800 GPH return line


I will be still running ZEO but haven't decided if I should get a bigger reactor or not yet.

The tank stand is going to be as sleek and "modern" as possible to match the rest of the condo. Just a very, very basic gloss white "cube" for the tank to sit on. The doors will be panels that slide (like Lastlight's stand ) so they are basically not very noticeable when closed hopefully.

No canopy. I am going to hang the lights from the ceiling, about 20" off the water surface which is ideal for the Lumenbright reflectors and should give ideal PAR and not cause heat issues. The thing is, they may not look right because the ceiling is 14' tall...kind of long cables Might look into other options.

Other than that...not much. That is all the equipment for now. Once the cost of all this dissipates a bit, I will be switching from annoying two part dosing to the Balling method. Just can't spend $500 on a new dosing pump right away

This project HAS to be up and running by the first week in March when our place is being used for a fashion photo shoot. So relatively fast.

I was hoping to move livestock over very slowly but since the display tank now is going to be the sump, I have to do it quickly...probably going to fill the new tank with new sand and some rock I have cycling and half new water. Do the plumbing and whatnot without the sump in place (its VERY simple). Let the new tank sit and do its thing for a week or two and when it is stable and testing the same as the current display, start moving stuff over. Set up the old tank as the sump and hopefully everything lives!

I have lots and lots of people offering to help so I think the actual day I transfer everything over and finish the plumbing will go fine.

Hmmm...that got long! Work is quite boring today I usually work from home but had to go into the studio for a few days. Its very weird not being home with my tank!

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Hmmm...that got long! Work is quite boring today I usually work from home but had to go into the studio for a few days. Its very weird not being home with my tank!

You know youve got it bad when you suffer separation anxiety going to work for a few hours.

[Rbacchiega]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Hmmm...that got long! Work is quite boring today I usually work from home but had to go into the studio for a few days. Its very weird not being home with my tank!

I'm sure if you buy it a nice SPS coral it will forgive you

[BlueAbyss]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Hopefully the gorgonians make it. The yellow seem to be loving the ZEO but that purple one, not so much. Although I noticed PE again this morning.

Good to hear that you noticed PE again, maybe it was just a bit too much of a shock to have to work for it's food unstead of absorbing it from the water Glad to hear it's recovering, and good luck with the new tank... I'll be tagging along

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

Good to hear that you noticed PE again, maybe it was just a bit too much of a shock to have to work for it's food unstead of absorbing it from the water Glad to hear it's recovering, and good luck with the new tank... I'll be tagging along

There really wasn't too much PE from it but at least some. I removed the cyano from it manually. If it doesn't improve in the next few weeks though, I will most likely sell the gorgonian. Its much to beautiful (and healthy) to have it die off in my tank. Its such a nice purple and not all that common I don't think for photosynthetic gorgonians. We'll see how it goes.

I will take some pics of it tomorrow.